iCare Data Recovery Review

ICare Data Recovery is a free and commercial recovery program for the Windows operating system that you can use to recovery files or entire partitions.

If you have every accidentally lost data that you needed at a later point in time you know that data recovery is one of the options to recover data. The only other option are data backups but only if they have been created regularly and if the files that need to be accessed have been included.

Data can become inaccessible because of several reasons: it can be that you deleted the data accidentally, that a partition or hard drive has been formatted. or that partition headers became corrupt so that the operating system cannot read file information anymore. Then there is the chance that a malware attack may corrupt or encrypt data to make it inaccessible as well.

iCare Data Recovery

The recovery software iCare Data Recovery provides a solution for all three scenarios. It can be used to recover formatted drives and partitions including external storage devices like flash cards (for instance to recover deleted photos from the digital camera's flash card), ipods and basically any storage device that can be connected to a PC.

The second option of the file recovery software is the ability to restore partitions which have become corrupt and therefor unreadable by the operating system.

Data recovery options are provided as well. It is possible to restore deleted files, and to run a deep scan recovery.

Note: The free version of the application is good for recovering up to 1 Gigabyte of data.

As far as features are concerned, here is a quick rundown:

All levels of Hardware RAID supported.

Advanced and unique deep searching and scanning algorithm that recover lost files in seconds

Recover formatted sd card, hard drive partitions, ipod etc.

Recover files from RAW drives or file system; You do not have to convert file system back to FAT/NTFS

Recover photos, documents, video, music and emails.

Preview lost photos, office files before buy.

The data recovery software is relatively easy to use: It links to its three main tools in the interface on startup. The first enables you to restore individual files by selecting a partition or drive on the system, the second to run a deep scan of the system which can be useful if the first option did not find the files that you need to recover, and the third an option to restore a partition.

Newer versions of the application list what each of the available tools are designed to do, but inexperienced users may still have troubles using the program regardless of that.

The developer's website offers a tutorial for some usage scenarios which is a recommended read for users who want to know more about the software's capabilities.

The site lists the following tutorials at the time of writing this article:

How to run a partition recovery: deleted partition by mistake, bad partition table, partition lost without a reason, partition or drive not detected by PC.

How to recover deleted files: restore files that were removed using Shift-Delete, from an emptied recylce bin, or if a partition is inaccessible but visible in Disk Management.

How to use the deep scan recovery tool: helps with data loss after system crashes, bad MBR, partition table or boot sector, bad file allocation table, software failures, RAID array damages, RAW drives, and drives that are seemingly not formatted.

Format Recovery: explains how to deal with formatting issues such as accidentally formated partitions, or restore operations on mobile devices.

The functionality that the program offers is excellent but it is let down somewhat by the 1 Gigabyte limit of the free version.

This impacts the actual recovery process only though and not the searching for files which means that you can use the program to find out if it is capable of recovery files or partitions, and if it is, decide on whether a purchase of the commercial version makes sense.

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About Martin Brinkmann

Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.You can follow Martin on Facebook, Twitter or Google+

Comments

Icare data recovery ripped me off for 70.00. I had a WD external hard drive fail. I paid Icare for their program. The program produced 300 gig of useless gibberish. Icare refused to refund my money. Do not pay this company any money. You will be disappointed and they will refuse to refund your money

This program is a piece of krud. I spent over TWELVE HOURS trying to restore a drive that was accidentally erased WITH ALL MY DOCUMENTS ON IT.

So I opened the folder, and there was a folder for all of my files, Microsoft Word Documents, Microsoft Excel Documents, etc. EACH FILE was BLANK. –If you accidentally erase your drive it’s probably better to start it all over again.

I tried to recover my photos with icare recovery and a window popped up saying I would have to pay for a code to download all of my photos once I paid I didn’t get a code, can some tell me how you got your code

I used this program and it recovered my files however everything is in a raw folder and when I open each individual file, nothing opens up or works. Word documents are blank and music files do not play. I asked icare for a solution and they told me to look for a raw data file program. No real help. I paid 70 bucks to recover files I can’t use.

This program is a piece of sh… I tried to recover deleted folder from USB drive – it recovered the files but all of them are blank !!! – even smallest JPGs or PNG, not even mentioning large files which were the most important to me.

Pros The trial version gives you hope by showing files it might be able to recover; It’s all downhill from there. Cons Their software actually assisted in ‘corrupting’ my hard drive according to a data recovery specialist I had to hire after their software claim to save my files after purchasing the key.

They have no money-back guarantee; I’ve asked for a refund for over 3 months and they will not honor my request even after their software corrupted my hard drive.

They take days and sometimes weeks to respond to emails. No other means of support or communication.

They have removed their ‘contact us’ information from their website. It’s the same as the link ‘about iCare’ at the bottom. Check it out yourself. It was there a few months ago before their software corrupted my hard drive, so I’m sure I’m only one of probably thousands who are complaining to them for them to remove their contact info. Summary I downloaded the trial version and it found about 1,500 files in about 20 minutes that I wanted to recover. You cannot save the files without purchasing their key for the full version. They claim if you see them with the trial you can save them after buying their key. I purchased it and input it to the field, but it said it was invalid; I copy and pasted it and typed verbatim about 15 different times with same result. Was told to uninstall and reinstall and use the key during installation. I did that and was able to ‘search again’ for the files with the full version. But this time it found NONE of the 1,500 files from the first search. In fact it only searched about 1000 sectors out of a total of 1,000,000 sectors in about 24 hrs. which would have taken a month. Obviously something was wrong. I began emailing them as this is their ONLY means of contact. Response was HORRIBLE. i finally took my hard drive to a trusted specialist. He said the HD was corrupt and it was likely the uninstalling of the iCare software while it has found the original files. He said it would cost about $2000 to fix now; had I brought it to him in the beginning it would have been about $200 because the HD was not corrupt at that point. iCare actually corrupted my hard drive because their trial version would not accept the ‘key’ I purchased and they had me uninstall/reinstall to get the key to work. By then the files could not be recovered. I have dialoged with them via email for the past 3 months asking AT LEAST for a refund and they will not comply. STAY FAR FAR AWAY! You have been warned. If your data is worth ANYTHING, I would not use this software. One last thing to show you how CORRUPT they are; go to their website and select the ‘about iCare’ link, then select the ‘contact us’ link at the bottom of the page. THEY ARE THE SAME THING showing ONLY the ‘ABOUT iCare’ information. NO INFORMATION ON HOW TO CONTACT THEM. I wonder why????? It was there a few months ago before their software corrupted my hard drive, so I’m sure I’m only one of probably thousands who are complaining to them for them to remove their contact info. USE AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

My harddrive had converted to RAW because of a power failure in the middle of the night. I tried ICare free data recovery and after 24 hours it showed all my files that were lost then it told me I could only do 3 files at a time so I opened those files and all my information was there… As I tried to save them it told me I needed to purchase the program. I paid for the Pro version of the program and then installed the numbers and it told me registration was successful and then the nightmare began.. I tried to use the program and it would not scan for my drives it just sets there and asks what partition would I like to open and will not recognize any drive on my computer….I have searched for hours on the web and have not found a solution…. Other than this program is a scam. Anyone with an answer other than complaints welcome…..

I bought ICare Data Recovery Pro. Paid and installed. After installation and running the program, not a single file recovered. It is disaster. File recovery process over 18 hours. I ask for my refund, then I am taken in circles. Responses back and forth. I ain’t running the process again, results will be the same. they have no phone contacts and only e-mails. No support team name. It is all SCAM. STOP THIS CRAP.

I have read this review. I am sorry I did not prior paying for this nonsense

Bought the software ICare and installed it. I took me 8 hours to scan the drive, after which I had to go through thousands of partitions to get what I am looking for. It recovered the files. Great

ON saving it to a different location as suggested I noticed 10 to 11 Copies of the same folder, the 11th one is were the data is, opening that, there is 11 copies of each file. Imagine the amount of files and folders to go through to eventually get to the document I am looking for and will be able to few.

Let me tell you – I could not open 75 % of those documents because a pop up appears saying, the file format is corrupted . It opens but with a lot of block, strips and jargon unreadable to the most intelligent person in the world.

I then came across software called “Recover My Data”, what a pleasure , scanned my hard drive, recovered 200 G data and saved same to my d drive in under 20 min. ALL FILES VIEWABLE AND EDITABLE with out a problem

About gHacks

Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.